10-minute bedtime stories
51 longer stories to read aloud
For the nights when there is a little more time, or a listener who wants the story to keep going. These tales run ten minutes or a little more aloud: long enough for a journey, a plan that goes wrong and a careful putting-right.
In Two Hundred and Eleven Stars, Nell carries a fallen, humming star up a snowy mountain before the sky gets light. Hattie and the Hundred and Twelve Steps is about a very old tortoise who has spent the winter planning how to climb a lighthouse’s hundred and twelve steps. Several come from the world of Starfall, like Two Miles by Starlight, where a broken milestone has to be recut by lamplight before the morning walkers come up the road.
They suit older children and grown-ups, and they split well over two nights if eyes close halfway.
Snow, Slowly, Not IndoorsAn eight-year-old in Lantern Hollow finds a mysterious snow card in her Midwinter mitten and writes to the person in the observatory, with far too many P.S.s, to find out who made it before the lamp supper.
The Jar That Kept the WindOn the night watch on Whistling Ridge, a fallen star lands in Pip Underweather’s sound jar, and Sable Windreader has a jar that blows the same gust over and over until dawn.
The Violet Whale for Chapter TwelveIlex has to finish the last chapter of her favourite serial before the midwinter supper, and Pell will only lend it in exchange for the violet card she has opened every game with for years.
Jem’s Knot on Rope DayJem can tie a miller’s knot one-handed without looking, but whenever she tries Ansel’s hitch she ends up with a miller’s knot or a lump, and Pip Underweather has a jar in a basket that keeps saying “take our time” in Ansel’s voice.
The Door That Needs a ShoulderPip Underweather walks four days west to put the famous sound of Maren’s door in a jar, and then finds the door won’t make it.
The Night the Well RestedOne night a year nobody may draw from the meadow well, and the well keeper has a chalked sign, a dishcloth and one kettle of tea to get the whole valley through till dawn.
Two Miles by StarlightWhen a cart wheel knocks the foot off Ivo’s two-mile stone so that it reads seven, Ivo has to recut it by night before the morning walkers come up the road, and a lamp with hardly any oil in it isn’t going to last.
Did Not Need ItA fallen star fleck gets caught in Purl’s best polishing cloth, and it won’t let Maren walk past a single knocker, lamp or milestone without stopping to shine it.
The Comet’s Cart Goes UphillCorvin the Tinker fixes the Wandering Comet’s cart so it will never roll into the pond again, and it rolls uphill instead, off across the meadow with the Comet walking briskly behind and insisting the Comet does not hurry.
Hattie and the Hundred and Twelve StepsHattie is a very old tortoise who lives at the bottom of a lighthouse, and she has spent a whole winter working out how to get up a hundred and twelve steps to watch the star come down.
The Jar Marked Sable LosingOn the last windy evening of the season, Pip Underweather climbs Whistling Ridge with two empty jars: one for the long note the ridge sings once a year, and one for the sound of Sable losing at cards, which nobody has heard in three years.Which Pear Comes On FirstVesper has spent nine years counting things in Miri’s orchard, and one count, the pear that lights first every evening, could change how the visitors see Lamp Evening.
Mr. Wimble’s Fortieth WinkIn a town where winks are real and get counted in jars, a very tidy man has woken up one short of a proper nap for eleven years, because his fortieth wink always rolls away under the door.
Eighteen Clothes-PegsMaren borrowed eighteen clothes-pegs from the well keeper in April, and they won’t stay in the tin long enough to go back.
The Coat in the Board BagMaren won’t wear a coat and won’t admit she’s cold. Then fog rolls up the east road, and in the humming grass a fleck of star wants a game of cards.
Forty-Seven Jumps the Wrong WayWhen eighty-one-year-old Mabel falls asleep halfway through counting a sheep, he lands on her bedroom rug holding the top rail of the fence, and she has to count him home.
Selene’s Best MistakesFor forty years Pell has hidden something lovely inside every airship envelope except one, and now, with the old grey Patience flying her last season, Pell climbs Selene’s stair to ask for the one lining worth the wait.
Butter-Fingers Molly and the Eight BowsEverything Butter-Fingers Molly drops into the harbour comes back at low tide, cleaned and done up in eights, and she means to find out who is sending it.
Princess Lottie Inside the HarpPrincess Lottie is the smallest of seven, so small she stands on the castle dog to see out of the windows, and when a peg falls inside the giant’s golden harp, she may be the only one in the kingdom who fits.